Combined door-plate and mail-receiver



(No Model.) R. GHPAOE' 86 J. WEV.

COMBINED DOOR PLATE AND MAIL RECEIVER. No. 295,5 Patente'dfMaJr. 25, 1884.

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UNITED (STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT G. PAGE AND WALTERJ. WEV, OF LYNGHBURG, VIRGINIA.

COMBINED DOOR-PLATE AND MAIL-RECEIVER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 295,581, dated March 25, 1884.

Application filed April '7, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom; it may concern:

Be it known that we, ROBERT G. PAcE'and WALTER J. VVEV, citizens of the United States, residing at Lynchburg, in the county of Campbell and State of Virginia, have invented a new and useful Combined Door-Plate andMail- Receiver, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to combined doorplates and mail and card receivers for the doors of offices, residences, and the like; and it consists in certain improvements in the construction of the same, which will be hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings hereto annexed, Figure l is a front view of. the device attached to a door in position for operation. Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the flap raised, so as to disclose the slot. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the device in position for operation.

The same letters refer to the same parts in all the figures.

A in the drawings designates the body of the door-plate, which may be made of cast metal or other suitable material, of any shape desired, and suitably ornamented.

B is a flap or plate, hinged transversely across the center of the face of the plate A,

' the lower half of which is concealed by the said plate B when the latter is in its normal position. The upper half of the plate A, which is normally exposed, bears the name of the person residing in the house upon the door of which the door-plate is secured, and on its upper edge has a catch, G. The upper or outer side of the hinged flap B bears the inscription Letter-box, or the like, and the under side of the said hinged flap or plate is to be inscribed with the legend Not in,

Not at home, or the like; and on the edge of this flap is a suitable catch or fastening, O, which registers with catch 0, bymeans of which the flap may be retained in a raised position when desired, covering the nameinscription,-and announcing the fact to callers that the occupant is not at home or not visible. The lower half of the plate A has a transverse slot, D, registering with a letter- Way, E, in the door, through which letters papers, and cards may be dropped.

F is a hell or gong, of which G is the operating-handle. The hammer H of the said gong is connectedby a rod or chain, I, with one arm of abell-crank lever, J, pivoted at K. The other arm of said lever is connected by a rod, L, with a lug or projection, M, upon the inner side of the hinged plate B. Suitable slotsare formed in the door to accommodate this mechanism, which serves, when the plate B is raised, to sound the hell or gong, thereby announcing to the inmates of the house the delivery of mail-matter or the like.

If it should be desirable to announce the arrival of mail-matter, &c., in any particular apartment in the house, we locate in such apartment an electric bell, N, connected by one wire, 0, with one pole. of a suitably-located battery, P. Another wire, Q, connects the bell N with a button, R, secured to the door.

The other pole of the battery is connected by a wire, S, with a contact-button, T, mounted upon aspring, U, which holds it from contact with the button B. An elastic strap, V, connects the spring U with the hinged flap or plate B. It will be seen that when the latter is raised the buttons R and T are thrown into contact with each other, thus closing the circuit and sounding the alarm.

The operation and advantages of this invention will be readily understood from the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings hereto annexed. It is simple, neat, and convenient.

We claim as our invention and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States- The combination, with a door-plate, A, the upper edge of which has a catch, 0, and the lower half of which has a transverse slot, D, registering with the letter-way, of a flap, B, hinged transversely across the center of said door-plate, and having a suitable catch, 0, to register with the catch on the plate, by means of which the said flap may be retained in a raised position and conceal the outer surface of both plate and flap, as set forth.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto aftixed our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT G. PAGE.

. WALTER J WEV.

Witnesses:

WM. D. BRANCH, P. H. VERMILION. 

